10 best laptops for students 2015

Even for those who feel at home with their nose in a textbook, the end of summer break (or Winter recess) is a big bummer. But as much as it’s a return to school and schedules, it’s an opportunity. This is a fine excuse to invest in some fresh tech to make the coming academia-addled year a little more bearable.

If you’re still reliant on a desktop, or if your laptop winces at the sight of a high-definition video lecture, it’s time to look into an upgrade. And thankfully if you know where to look, it’s possible to get a sleek and impressive notebook without blowing through your savings (or student loans).

We’ve pored through our archives from the past several months and picked thebest laptops for school. Our short list spans a variety of budgets that range from power-sipping Chromebooks to help you with that 1,000 page dissertation to more powerful machines that’ll do better at a dorm room lan party.

Update: Apple recently unveiled its iPad Pro, a tablet with an optional keyboard dock and an Apple Pencil stylus. The former allows students to convert Apple’s 12.9-inch iOS slate into a tablet form factor, while the latter brings inking capabilities for digital note-taking, drawing and sketching. The tablet competes in the same space as the Windows 10-powered Surface Pro, and Apple says that the iPad Pro will arrive in November.

+ Solid performance
+ Incredibly thin and light
– Wonky video driver
– Tinny speakersCall it a MacBook Air knockoff all you want, the Asus ZenBook UX305 is one of the best and most affordable Ultrabooks available now.

The Acer Chromebook 15 asks if you need a big machine to just run a Chrome browser, and I say ‘oh, yes.’ The Chromebook 15 takes Chrome OS to new places as it’s the first device to arrive with a 15.6-inch display and the first to come with Intel’s newest Broadwell processor.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is an excellent option for students who may need more power than a Chromebook or a MacBook Air without sacrificing portability thanks to its long battery life, relatively light weight, and high resolution display. Students on a budget will be happy to know that they can get started right away as the MacBook Pro with Retina display ships with free copies of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote out of the box as well as iMovie, Photos, and GarageBand for basic, creative projects.

If you want the cheapest and most portable Surface tablet money can buy for lightweight computing tasks, the Surface 3 fits the bill. Power-hungry users should consider the low-end Surface Pro 3 instead.